Perception of British English vowels by Persian listeners

Name: Homerya Surname: Asalni Malayeri Student number: 16437568

Perception of British English vowels by

Persian listeners

Abstract

The perceptual difficulties encountered by the listeners in

identification of Second language (L2) vowel sounds have been

investigated by many studies of L2. The attribution of foreign

accented speech production to the learners’ inaccurate perception

of non-native vowel sounds has been also discussed by some

researchers (Escudero, 2005). The interference of the first

language (L1) in L2 acquisition and development is highlighted as

the most essential influence involved in L2 learners’ perception

problems by recent studies. The purpose of the present study is

to explore and analyse the Persians’ identification of British

English (BE) vowels based on Second Language Linguistic

Perception (L2Lp) and vowel inventories. In particular, the study

attempts at investigating the possible difficulties encountered

by Persian speakers of English in catergorisation of BE Vowel

contrast /I/-/i:/ and /ɔ/ vowel sound. A total of three female

native Persian and one male non-native Persian speaker of English

of first-year postgraduate TESOL students currently studying at

the University of Western Sydney who were between the 21 and 31

years of age participated in the present study. Three listeners

were bilingual and one listener was multilingual. An

identification task revealed that three listeners did not have

difficulty in their perception of the selected English vowels and

1School of Humanities and Communication Arts


therefore the research predictions and L2LP model were not

supported by their results. Contrastively, the results of the

multilingual listener was in line with the research’s prediction

in respect to difficulty in classification of /I/ -/i:/ and

thus the predication and L2LP model were partially supported.

This finding confirms that the perception difficulty can be

caused by the absence of some L2 vowels in L1 vowel inventory.

Introduction

Over the last few decades, English has become the most widespread

language around the world spoken by people of diverse linguistic

backgrounds. Most Second language (L2) learners of English aim

to communicate effectively with non-native and native speakers of

English and to achieve this they need to be able to accurately

perceive the non-native sounds such as vowels that are not

present in their native language. Differences in perception of

English vowels by non-native learners of English result in

various and often accented speech production. L2 listeners may

encounter difficulty in categorization of the L2 vowels which may

have different acoustic properties from their native vowel

inventory (Bradlow 1993, Fox et al. 1995, Levy & Strange 2008,

Polka 1995, Scholes 1967 & 1968, Terbeek 1977). perceptual

difficulty has been identified as a basis for the insufficient

production of L2 Vowel sounds due to the influence of L1 system

as a 'phonological filter' (Trubetzkoy, 1969). According to



Trubetzkoy, the perception and classification of L2 sounds occur

through L2 phonological filtering system.

Many believe that foreign accent originate from the specific –

language perceptual patterns used by the L2 learners of English

(Ekman, 2004, Escudero, 2007). According to Ekman and Escudero

(2004), these strategies are so strongly established in L2

learners’ mind that the use of them in the L2 acquisition process

is inevitable. The perception of English vowels across the

speakers of different languages widely varies. Thus, a word may

be pronounced differently on the basis of the individual

variations of the speakers of a language (Hall, 2007).

Several empirical studies have considered different aspects of L2

pronunciation and identified vowels as being the most challenging

aspect for L2 learners (Bohn & Flege, 1990, 1992, 1997; Ingram

and Park, 1997, Morrison, 2008, 2009). Other researchers have

revealed some differences in the degree of difficulty in L2

pronunciation among the learners. Accordingly, individual

variations such as the age of acquisition and length of residence

influence the extent of foreign accent (Flege, Birdsong,

Bialystok, Mack, Sung and Tsukada, 2006; MacKay, Flege and Imai,

2006; see also Piske, MacKay, and Flege, 2001). Cross-linguistic

studies on the notion of speech perception have also demonstrated

a relevance of linguistic experience to the recognition of native

and L2 speech sounds. For instance, Flege (1994) indicated the

impact of the degree of English exposure and proficiency on the

perception of non-native vowels by the native Spanish speakers.3

School of Humanities and Communication Arts


Swan and Smith (1987) also believe that the pronunciation errors

made by the L2 learners of English are due to the influence of

the vowel inventories and the perceptual patterns in their first

languages.

As addressed to by the Second Language Linguistic Perception

(L2Lp) model (Escudero, 2005), full copying of the first language

(L1) system and mechanisms are the bases for acquiring the L2

perception system. ((Boersma, Escudero & Hayes, 2003). The

Speech Learning Model (SLM) developed by Fledge (1992) aims to

explain the influence of t the age- related issues on listeners’

ability to produce L2 vowel and consonants in a native-like

manner.

Similarly, a few studies have been carried out to investigate the

perception of English vowels by native speakers of Persian. Hall

(2007) from the results of a study that she has conducted in

Australia proposed that phonological characteristics of Farsi

interfere with the intelligibility of Persian speakers of English

in their interaction with L1 Australian English speakers. This

can be interpreted as that inaccurate perception of English vowel

categories by Persian speakers of English results in an accented

speech production which consequently influences their

intelligibility to L1 English speakers.

The tense and lax distinction in English vowel inventory has been

identified as one of the most challenging areas in perception of

English categories for Iranian speakers of English (Bakhtiarvand,

2006). According to Bakhtiarvand (2006), the perception and



pronunciation of the tense and lax vowel contrasts of English

such as /I/-/i:/ are so identical by Persians as if they are the

same vowels. For instance Iranians may perceive and produce such

words as ‘sleep’ in the same way as ‘slip’.

A study by Hunter and Kebede (2012) on the notion of English

vowels’ pronunciation by Farsi speakers also revealed that the

absence of some English categories in Farsi vowel inventory may

result in the failure of Farsi speakers of English in correct

pronunciation of those vowels. Keshavarz (1994) also pointed out

that Persians may make some phonological errors due to the

absence of certain English tokens in Farsi vowel inventory.

According to him, Persian speaking listeners of English have

difficulty with the English vowel sound /I/ as it does not exist

in Farsi. Lack of such English vowels as /I/ in’ bit’ and / ɔ/ in

the middle vowel sound of ‘sympathy’ has been also identified as

cause of perception difficulty for Persian speakers of English by

Seddighi (2010).

“Farsi” or “Parsi” referred to as indigenous name of the Persian

language is known as the national and official language of Iran

(Akbarzadeh, 2005). Farsi, a branch of Indo-European languages

is a quiet widespread language spoken by over 70 million speakers

in Iran and other countries like Afghanistan, Tajikistan and

Pamir mountain areas (Hall, 2007). As demonstrated in Figure 1,

Persian includes 6 vowels: three lax vowels (/ɒː/, /e/, /o/) and

three tense vowels (/æ/, /i:/, /o:/) (Bakhtiarvand, 2006).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowel


Figure1. Farsi/Persian vowels chart

In contrast, British English has 11 distinct vowels (/i/,

/I/,/ɛ/, / æ/, /ɑ/, / ɒ/, / ɔ/, /ʊ/, / u/, /ʌ/, /ɜ/). As it can

be seen in figure 2, the 5 English vowels (/I/, /ɛ/, / ʊ/, / ʌ/,/

ɔ/) are absent in Farsi vowel system ( Hall, 2007)

Figure2. British English vowel chart

The general objective of the present study was to explore the

difficulties encountered by the Persian learners of English in

their perception of English vowels. In particular, this study

attempted to find out whether native-Persian listeners were able

to correctly identify the BE /I/ and /i/ contrasts as well as /ɔ/

sound. Several studies have been conducted to explore the

weaknesses and strengths of native Farsi speakers’ in acquisition



of the English sound system. Hunter and Kebede (2012) have

postulated that L1 Farsi listeners usually get confused in their

attempts at pronunciation of /I/ and /i/. The present study also

attempted to predict the problems faced by Persian listeners in

perceiving the English vowels.

To explain and analyse L2 perceptual difficulties, three

theoretical speech perception models including Speech Learning

Model (SLM), Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and Second

Language Linguistic Perception (L2Lp) can be used by researchers.

According to PAM (Best, 1995) and L2Lp (Escudero, 2005) model,

listeners’ difficulty in perceiving L2 new vowel sounds can be

predicted based on their linguistic background. The models

explain that catergorisation and filtration of the L2 sounds by

the L2 learners are possible through the vowel sounds existing in

their L1 vowel inventory (Elvin & Escudero, 2014). L2Lp

The study’s hypotheses were made on the basis of L2LP (Escudero,

2005) model which attempts to predict and analyse the L2 sound

categorization at all stages of learning as well as the vowel

inventories of Persian and English languages. Accordingly, it was

predicted that native-Persian listeners would have difficulty in

perception of the English vowel pairs /I/, i:/. As some English

vowels do not exist in the six-vowel inventory of Farsi, Persian

speakers of English would have difficulties perceiving those

absent vowels. As stated by Hale (2007), /i/ in Farsi is similar

to the close-front-tense /i/ in English, while half-close, front



lax English vowel /I/ is not present in Farsi. Hence, /i/ may be

used instead of /I/ occasionally by Farsi speakers of English.

The fact that the Farsi vowel inventory is characterized as a

typical six-vowel system suggests that Farsi speakers of English

would have difficulties producing English vowels that do not

exist in the Farsi vowel system. For instance, in Farsi, /i/ is

similar to the close-front-tense /i:/ in English but /I/, which

is a half-close, front-lax vowel in English is absent in Farsi.

Thus, the result will be the use of /i/ instead of /I/ which

would create misunderstanding and in some cases embarrassment for

Farsi speakers of English. For example, some may pronounce the

words ‘ship’ and ‘sheep’ the same. This scenario may also happen

in many other words such as: ‘eat/it; keen/kin; seen/sin;

heat/hit; least/list; beat/bit, and cheap/chip

Persian listeners would also encounter difficulty when attempting

to identify the English / ɔ/ sound as it is not present in

Persian vowel inventory. They would be likely replace the English

vowel / ɔ/ with /e/ vowel from their L1 vowel inventory.

As L2Lp model suggests, the perceptual patterns used by Native-

Persian learners of English in recognition of the English vowels

may differ due to their individual variations.

Method of the research



Listeners

A total of four native and non-native Persian-speakers of English

participated in the present study. All participants were of first

– year postgraduate students of TESOL currently studying at the

University of Western Sydney. The listeners included three female

native Persian and one male non-native Persian speaker of English

between the ages of 21 and 31. Three participants have been

living in Australia for more than one year and one was born and

was grown up in Australia. One listener was multilingual and

three were bilinguals. With respect to the length of residence

and exposure to English in terms of naturalness and formality,

individual variations were demonstrated across the listeners. All

participants, except the one born in Australia had commenced

their acquisition of English at young age at private language

institutes or High schools in Iran. In terms of formal exposure

to English, two listeners had reached to tertiary level and one

to advanced level through studying at an English language

institute in Iran. In respect to natural exposure, the

participant who was born and grown up in Australia had a chance

of naturally being exposed to English from the early childhood.

The multilingual listener’s exposure to such different languages

as Arabic, Farsi, Spanish and English was noticeable among the

other participants.

Stimuli or sounds



The participants listened to the contrasts /ɪ/ and /i: / as well

as particular /ɔ/ sound of the BE vowel inventory. The listeners

listened to the selected vowels in terms of the categories [heed]

and [hid] for the perception of /ɪ/ and /i: / sounds and [caught]

for the identification of /ɔ/ sound. The two Be /æ/ and /ʊ/

vowels were also included as distracters. Thus, the listeners

subsequently listened to /æ/ and /ʊ/ vowels in terms of the

categories [had] and [hood]. Each vowel sound was randomly

listened to for eighteen times by each individual listener.

Hence, the listeners were exposed to 3x18 + 2x 18 English vowels

for a total of 90 sounds.

Tasks

An identification task presented in Pratt software program was

administered to determine the extent to which the Participants

were able to identify the English vowels. The experiment was

conducted in a quite computer room where all listeners were

exposed to five English response categories orthographically

showed on the computers’ screens. A standard computer and a

headphone were provided to each participant and the instructions

were given in English. The listeners’ task was to classify the

selected auditory tokens of English in respect to those five

categories which were all actual English words. The sounds that

were played, were the synthesised sounds taken from Escudero and

Chladkova’s study (2010). The participants were allowed to

frequently listen to the vowel sounds at their own pace as well


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel


as take three short breaks. The listeners were tested in one

session lasting less than 10 minutes.

Results

The assessment of the selected English vowels revealed that most

were perceived in accordance to the proposed English categories

by three of the listeners. This indicates that three participants

had high-level of capability and competence in correct perception

of the English input tokens and one did not. Thus the results are

not in line with the research’s predictions. Table 1 shows the

outcomes obtained from the listener 1. As indicated in this

table, the vowel contrast /I/- /i:/ and vowel / ɔ/ are

perceived accurately with random occurrence of a few mistakes.

The results from the listener 2 informed similar performances and

accuracy level in classification of the intended English

categories. According to table 2, the listener 2 accuracy level

in perception of the English contrast /I/-/I:/ and vowel /ɔ/

has subsequently been seventeen and sixteen correct responses out

of 18 . In contrast, the obtained results from the listener 3,

revealed a significant difference with respect to the perception

of the English contrast /I/ - /i:/. The difficulty level of this

listener in categorisation of /I/-/i:/ contrast is demonstrated

in table 3 as 14 inaccurate and 4 accurate responses. Table 4

indicates the outcomes of the listener 4 which is identical to

the results of the listener 1 and listener 2 in respect to

identification of the selected English vowels. All listeners were



able to correctly identify the distractors sounds which validates

the task.

Table 1: Perception of vowel contrast /I/ - /i:/ and vowel / / by listener 1

ResponsesSounds Caught

(distractor)

Had Heed Hid Hood(distractor)

Caught 16 18 0 0 0Had 0 0 0 0 0Heed 0 0 16 2 0Hid 0 0 2 16 0Hood 2 0 0 0 18

Figure 1: perception of BE vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ by listener 1

caught had heed hid hood0

5

10

15

20

Listener 1

caught had heed hid hood

Sounds

Num

ber o

f sou

nds



Table 2: Perception of BE vowel contrast /I/ - /i:/ and vowel / / by listener 2


(distractor)

Had Heed Hid Hood(distractor)

Caught 18 18 0 0 1Had 0 0 0 0 0Heed 0 0 17 1 0Hid 0 0 0 17 0Hood 0 0 1 0 17

Figure2: Perception of BE vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ by listener 2



caught had heed hid hood 02468101214161820

Listener 2


Sounds

Num

ber o

f sou

nds



(distractor)Had Heed Hid Hood

(distractor)Caught 18 18 0 0 1Had 0 0 0 0 0Heed 0 0 4 0 0Hid 0 0 14 0 0Hood 0 0 0 18 17



Figure3: Perception of BE vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ by listener 3


Listener 3


Sounds

Num

ber o

f sou

nds





(distractor)Had Heed Hid Hood

(distractor)Caught 16 18 0 0 1Had 0 0 0 0 0Heed 0 0 18 2 0Hid 0 0 0 16 0Hood 2 0 0 0 17

Figure 4: Perception of BE vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ and / / vowel sound


4

8

12

16

20

Listener 4

caught had heedhid hood

Sounds

Num

ber o

f sou

nds



Discussion

The study aimed to investigate the perceptual difficulties

encountered by Persian speakers of English in their

identification of BE English vowel sounds. The results addressed

the aim but did not support the predictions.

Prediction 1 posited that the native Persian speakers of English

experience difficulty in perception of vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ as

the front- lax English vowel /I/ does not exist in Farsi vowel

inventory. Accordingly, the Persian speakers of English

perception of vowel contrast /I/-/i:/ may be very similar as if

they are the same vowels. The results obtained from three

listeners did not support the prediction1 .Contrastively, the

results of one listener were in line with the prediction 1 and

therefore it was partially supported.

These unanticipated results may be analysed through a comparison

of the listeners’ linguistic background such as the number of

vowel inventories they know and their length of formal or natural

exposure to English. As previously mentioned, three listeners did

not encounter difficulty in perception of the selected vowel

contrast /I/-/I:/. It worth mentioning that these listeners were

all bilingual native-Persian speakers of English who had formal

phonological training and were exposed to this language at young

age in language institutes, High Schools or universities in Iran.

Additionally, these participants were current Postgraduate TESOL

students at the University of Western Sydney. Thus, they were all



familiar with the L2 issues and were also well trained with the

inherent of the identification task through studying ‘Investigating

Second Language Acquisition’ (SLA) subject. Hence, their successful

completion of the task and accurate classification of the /I/-i:/

English contrast could be due to their high proficiency and

competence in English, their previous experience and knowledge,

as well as their continued study and training in TESOL in the

English speaking country of Australia.

In contrast, the multilingual listener’s failure in accurate

perception of English vowel contrast /I/-/I:/ can be attributed

to his multilingualism and familiarity with more vowel inventory

systems than other listeners. As previously pointed out, the

difference in L1 and L2 vowel inventory results in perceptual

difficulty in terms of the vowels that are not present in L1

inventory. Thus, the multilingual participant encountered more

difficulty and confusion in perception of the selected English

contrast /I/ -/i:/ as he knew more L2 vowel inventory systems

different from his L1 (Arabic) inventory. In spite of his high

English proficiency and long exposure to this language, the

multilingual listener’s categorization of English /I/-/I:/

contrast was inaccurate and therefore partly supported the

prediction 1. As demonstrated in table 3, the vowel sound / i:/

in terms of the category [heed] has been 14 times classified

as /I/ in terms of the [hid] and only 4 times as / i:/ sound.

The second prediction was concerned to Persian listeners’

probable difficulty in identification of /ɔ/ English vowel sound



due to its absence in Persian vowel inventory. It was predicted

that English vowel /ɔ/ would be likely replaced with /e/ sound

from the Farsi vowel inventory by Persian speakers of English.

However, the results obtained from the listeners did not support

the prediction. Unexpectedly, four listeners were able to

accurately perceive the /ɔ/ sound with only a few occasional

errors. As previously discussed in analysis of the first

prediction, this unpredictable result may be interpreted through

a revision of the listeners’ language background. This unexpected

result may be related to the high proficiency and competence

level of the participants in English as well as their linguistic

experience in L2 which has been lead to their accurate

classification of /ɔ/ vowel sound. The correct perception of the

distracters æ/ and /ʊ/ with 100% (18 accurate responses out of

18) accuracy by three listeners and 16 accurate responses out of

18 by one listener supported and validated the task.

Lack of access to the listeners of the same background was one of

the limitations of the current research which was significantly

reflected in the participants’ performances and the findings of

the research. Further research is required to look into the

complexities involved in the perceptual difficulty and

development of the multilingual learners who are familiar with

more than two differing vowel inventory systems. Future research

is also needed to further investigate the Persian speakers’

perception problems in categorization of English tokens with more



participants of homogenous background in order to obtain more

reliable and valid results.

References

Bakhtiarvand, M. (2006). Phonological Differences between

Persian and English: Several potentially problematic Areas of

Pronunciation for Iranian EFL Learners. Research and science center of

Islamic Azad university Of Ahvaz. Retrieved from:

http://www.academia.edu/2424713/Phonological_Differences_between_

Persian_and_English_Several_potentially_problematic_Areas_ofPronu

nciation_for_Iranian_EFL_Learners

Boomershine, A. ( 2013). The perception of English vowels by

monolingual, bilingual and heritage speakers of Spanish and

English. In S. Blackwell and C. Howe (Eds.), Selected

Proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. Massachusetts:

Cascadilla Press, pp 103 - 118. Retrieved from:



http://uncw.edu/fll/spanish/documents/CV_Boomershine_2014_sho

rtened.pdf

Detey, S. (2009). Phonetic input, phonological categories and

orthographic representations: A Psycholinguistic Perspective

on Why Language Eeducation Needs Oral Corpora. . In Corpus

Analysis and Variation in Linguistics, Kawaguchi, Yuji,

Makoto Minegishi and Jacques Durand (eds.), 179–200.

Eckman, F. R. (2004). From phonemic differences to constraint rankings : Research onSecond Language Phonology. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 26 (4).

513- 549

Escudero, P. (2007). Second Language Phonology: the role of perception”. In M. C.Pennington (ed.) Phonology in context. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 109-134.

Escudero, P., & Chladkova, K. (2010). Spanish listeners'

perception of American and Southern British English vowels.

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(5), EL254-EL260.

Hall, M. (2007). Phonological characteristics of Farsi Speakers

of English and L1 Australian English speakers’ Perceptions

of Proficiency, M.A. Dissertation, Curtin University of

Technology, Perth, Australia. Retrieved from:

http://www.asian-efljournal.com/Thesis-M-Hall.pdf

Hunter, G and Kebede , H (2012). Formant frequencies of British

English vowels produced by native speakers of Farsi.


http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/view/creators/7995.html

http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/26714/

http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/26714/

http://www.asian-efljournal.com/Thesis-M-Hall.pdf

javascript:viewtitle('tufs.1','Book')

javascript:viewtitle('tufs.1','Book')

http://uncw.edu/fll/spanish/documents/CV_Boomershine_2014_shortened.pdf

http://uncw.edu/fll/spanish/documents/CV_Boomershine_2014_shortened.pdf


Proceeding of the Acoustics 2012 Nantes Conference, France. Retrieved

from:

http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/81/05/80/PDF/hal-

00810580.pdf

Keshavarz, M. H. (1994). Contrastive analysis and error analysis.Tehran: Rahnama Publication.

Ladefoged, P., & Johnson, K. (2011). Phonology and phonetic

transcription. In A course in phonetics (6th ed., pp. 33-48).

Boston, MA: Wadsworth. Retrieved

from:https://vuws.uws.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1106162-dt-

content-rid-13529832_1/courses/100919_2014_spr/

100919_2013_spr_ImportedContent_20130718110418/

LadefogedPJohnsonK_Chapter2.pdf

Mayr, R., & Escudero, P. (2010). Explaining individual variation

in L2 perception: Rounded vowels in English learners of

German. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(3), 279-297.

Seddighi, Sh. (2010). An account of Iranian EFL pronunciation

errors through L1 transfer. Iranian Journal of Applied Language

Studies, 2(2), 197-214. Retrieved from:

http://en.journals.sid.ir/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=269408

Trubetzkoy, N. S. (1929). Zur algemeinen theorie der phonologischen vokalsysteme. Travaux duCercle linguistique de Prague 1, 39-67.Trubetzkoy, N. S. (1969). Principles of Phonology. Berkeley, CA:

University of California Press.


http://en.journals.sid.ir/ViewPaper.aspx?ID=269408

http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/81/05/80/PDF/hal-00810580.pdf

http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/81/05/80/PDF/hal-00810580.pdf


Appendixes:

Appendix I : Questionnaires

Appendix II: Listeners’ perception results



Questionnaire for English Study

Date: _____________20.10.2014__________ Name: Kiana Kianian

Phone: ______0449979542 Email: kianna [email protected]

Age: 21 Date and Place of birth: 27/07/1993, Sydney, Australia

Year at UWS: 4th (currently studying a Graduate Diploma, previously studied a Bachelors of Social science_______ Studyprogram: __________________________________

1) Are you interested in participating in our study? _Yes, I aminterested in participating in your study__________________

2) Will you be available in September or October 2012? Yes I will beavailable.___________________

3) Can we contact you by phone or email to make an appointment? _Yes,you may contact me via phone.__________________

If you answered yes on the first 3 questions, please keep filling outthe questionnaire.

4) Cities and countries where you lived since you were born:



City and country: Sydney_____________________, For how long: _1-5 years__old_______________

City and country: Iran_______________, For how long: 5- 11 yearsold __________________

City and country: Sydney_____________________, For how long: _11-current time_________________

5) Place of birth of your parents (city and country): a) Mother:_Tehran, Iran____________________ b)Father: Tabriz,Iran__________________

6) Do you speak English at home? _yes I do speak English athome._______ Are any other languages spoken at you home? _Yes, Farsi isalso spoken at home______________________.

7) Are you currently studying any foreign language? Specify the language, level (1-6, advanced, beginner, etc), and the place where youare studying it (UWS, any other institution, private classes, etc)no, Iam not currently studying a foreign language

Language: ________________, Level: _____________, Place:________________


8) How many hours per week do you study each language?

Language: ________________, Hours per week: _____________


9) Have you ever studied a foreign language before? Yes, I have. ______

10)If yes, how old were you when you started?, How long did you studythe language? Up to which level did you study the language?

Language: ___French____________, Age: __18-20___________, Howlong: __1.5 years_____________, Level reached: Certificate 2 inFrench______________



Language: _______________, Age: _____________, How long:_______________, Level reached: ___certificate 2 in French___________

11) Choose the number that corresponds to your current level ofcomprehension of the following languages:

(0 means you don’t understand anything; 7 means you understandabsolutely everything).

English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ______)

Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ______)

12) Choose the number that corresponds to how well you speak thefollowing languages:

(0 means you don’t speak at all; 7 means you speak perfectly, like anative speaker)

English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: French 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: _)

Other language: Farsi 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: _______)

13) What percentage of time do you hear the following languages on adaily basis? The percentages must add up to 100%. If you hear otherlanguages, include them in the percentage.

English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) ___50%_

Other (Language: ______French_____), percentage (from 0 to 100%) __0%

Other (Language: __Farsi_________), percentage (from 0 to 100%) ____50%

14) What percentage of time do you communicate in the followinglanguages on a daily basis? The percentages must add up to 100%. If you



communicate in other languages, include them in the percentage.English,percentage (from 0 to 100%) _____________

Other (Language: ___________) percentage (from 0 to 100%)_____________

Other (Language: ___________), percentage (from 0 to 100%)_____________

Questionnaire for English StudyDate: __1/10/2014_________ Name: _____Maryam Menhaj_______

Phone: ____0449501235_________ Email: [email protected]____________

Age: ______29_______ Date and Place of birth: ___Tehran, 1985__________

Year at UWS: __1st_____ Study program: _____TESOL_______________

1) Are you interested in participating in our study?_______yes____________

2) Will you be available in September or October 2012?_______yes____________

3) Can we contact you by phone or email to make an appointment?______yes_____________

If you answered yes on the first 3 questions, please keep filling outthe questionnaire.4) Cities and countries where you lived since you were born:

City and country: Iran__________, For how long: _____24years_____________

City and country: Malaysia________, For how long: ________3years__________

City and country: Australia_____________, For how long: ________2years__________



5) Place of birth of your parents (city and country): a) Mother:___Tehran, Iran________ b) Father: __Tehran, Iran___

6) Do you speak English at home? _No_ Are any other languages spokenat you home? ___Farsi___________

7) Are you currently studying any foreign language? Specify the language, level (1-6, advanced, beginner, etc), and the place where youare studying it (UWS, any other institution, private classes, etc)

Language: ____English____________, Level: ___Advanced__________,Place: _____UWS___________



Language: _____English___________, Hours per week: ____6 -8_________


9) Have you ever studied a foreign language before? __English____


Language: __English__, Age: _12_____, How long: __not sure______,Level reached: __Advanced________

Language: _______________, Age: _____________, How long:_______________, Level reached: ___



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ___________)



Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ___________)



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: _________)

Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: _________)


English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) ___40%__________

Other (Language: ___Farsi________), percentage (from 0 to 100%)_____60%________


14) What percentage of time do you communicate in the followinglanguages on a daily basis? The percentages must add up to 100%. If youcommunicate in other languages, include them in the percentage.English,percentage (from 0 to 100%) ____30%_________

Other (Language: __Farsi_________) percentage (from 0 to 100%)____70%_________




Questionnaire for English StudyDate25/09/2014 Name: AZHER AL-HADI

Phone:0481300770 Email: [email protected]

Age:31 Date and Place of birth: IRAQ 1983

Year at UWS: 3 MONTHS Study program: TESOL

1) Are you interested in participating in our study? YES

2) Will you be available in September or October 2014? YES

3) Can we contact you by phone or email to make an appointment? YES

If you answered yes on the first 3 questions, please keep filling outthe questionnaire.4) Cities and countries where you lived since you were born:

City and country: NAJAF/IRAQ, For how long: 7 YEARS

City and country: TEHRAN/IRAN, For how long: 9 YEARS

City and country: DAMASCUS/SYRIA, For how long: 13 YEARS

City and country: SYDNEY/AUSTRALIA, For how long: LESS THAN 2YEARS

5) Place of birth of your parents (city and country): a)Mother:NAJAF/IRAQ b)Father: QADESIYA/IRAQ

6) Do you speak English at home? NO.. Are any other languages spoken atyou home? ARABIC

7) Are you currently studying any foreign language? Specify the language, level (1-6, advanced, beginner, etc), and the place where youare studying it (UWS, any other institution, private classes, etc) NO








9) Have you ever studied a foreign language before?PERSIAN/ENGLISH/SPANISH


Language: PERSIAN Age: 7 YEARS, How long: 9 YEARS, Level reached:SCHOOL

Language: ENGLISH Age: 14 How long: 10 YESR Level reached:UNIVERSITY

Language: SPANISH Age: 22 How long: 3 COURSES Level reached:LEVEL 1



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ARABIC)

Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: PERSIAN)



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ARABIC)



Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: PERSIAN)


English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) 40%

Other (Language: ARABIC), percentage (from 0 to 100%) 60%

Other (Language: PERSIAN ), percentage (from 0 to 100%) 0%

14) What percentage of time do you communicate in the followinglanguages on a daily basis? The percentages must add up to 100%. If youcommunicate in other languages, include them in the percentage.

English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) 25%

Other (Language: ARABIC) percentage (from 0 to 100%) 75%

Other (Language: PERSIAN), percentage (from 0 to 100%) 0%

Questionnaire for English Study

Date: ___22 sep. 14_______________ Name: _______Shadan Seifollahi___________________________

Phone: ______0405028967_________ Email: [email protected]______________________

Age: __________________________ Date and Place of birth: ______12/10/1987___________________

Year at UWS: _first year__________ Study program: _Graduate Diploma in TESOL

1) Are you interested in participating in our study?____Yes_______________



2) Will you be available in September or October 2012?______Yes_____________

3) Can we contact you by phone or email to make an appointment?___________________

If you answered yes on the first 3 questions, please keep filling outthe questionnaire.

4) Cities and countries where you lived since you were born:

City and country: ___ Tehran/Iran________, For how long: ___26years________

City and country: ___Sydney/Australia____, For how long: ___1year__________

City and country: _____________________, For how long:__________________

5) Place of birth of your parents (city and country): a) Mother:___Iran____________ b)Father: ___Iran__________

6) Do you speak English at home? No Are any other languages spokenat you home? __Persian________________

7) Are you currently studying any foreign language? Specify the language, level (1-6, advanced, beginner, etc), and the place where youare studying it (UWS, any other institution, private classes, etc)

Language: _____English ____, Level: ___Advanced__, Place: __SelfStudy______



Language: ___English_______, Hours per week: ___40 hours___


9) Have you ever studied a foreign language before? __Yes____




Language: ___English______, Age: ____10, How long: __16 years,Level reached: _Advanced_____

Language: _______________, Age: _____________, How long:_______________, Level reached:



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ___________)

Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ___)



English: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Other language: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: _______)

Other language 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7(Language: ______)


English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) _30____________




Other (Language: __________), percentage (from 0 to 100%)_____________

14) What percentage of time do you communicate in the followinglanguages on a daily basis? The percentages must add up to 100%. If youcommunicate in other languages, include them in the percentage.

English, percentage (from 0 to 100%) ___40__________

Other (Language: ___________) percentage (from 0 to 100%)_____________


Listener 1

subject stimulus response reactionTime

Ho British_caught.wav hood 3.7733924021510648

Ho British_hood.wav hood 8.088587375444135

Ho British_had.wav had 2.108527177422969

Ho British_heed.wav hid 1.4667959816054934

Ho British_hid.wav heed 8.300524083284484


Ho British_hid.wav hid 5.863899574555951


Ho British_heed.wav heed 3.000569281618181



Ho British_caught.wav caught 8.35500619099422









Listener 2



Ho British_caught.wavcaught 2.2653690185802358




Ho British_heed.wav hood 0.2705260669389826





Ho British_hood.wav caught 2.3762494078472827





















Listener 3






Ho British_hid.wav hood 4.217361448354495

























Listener 4


















Ho British_caught.wavhood 2.4647801977830737


Ho British_caught.wavhood 2.386057816850483









Perception of British English vowels by Persian listeners

Documents

Transcript of Perception of British English vowels by Persian listeners